SCOTTISH Opera’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, directed by British baritone Sir Thomas Allen, will open the company’s new season in October at Theatre Royal Glasgow.

A revival of a 2010 production, The Marriage of Figaro then goes to Aberdeen, Inverness and Edinburgh, and in January 2017 will travel to the Empire Theatre in Liverpool, the first time in 27 years Scottish Opera has visited the city.

Period designs by Simon Higlett provide the backdrop to the performance and the role of Figaro will be performed by former Scottish Opera Emerging Artist Ben McAteer, who is joined by Samuel Dale Johnson as Count Almaviva, and Anna Devin as Susanna.

scottishopera.org.uk

THE SECOND Findhorn Bay Festival has been launched by its director, Kresanna Aigner. It will run from September 21-26 September in Morayshire, opening with a concert by award-winning Gaelic singer, Julie Fowlis, pictured, who will perform in the historic St Laurence Church in Forres. She will be joined by Moray flautist, Uilleann piper and composer Calum Stewart and the Nairn Gaelic Choir.

The festival will close with Scottish Opera’s new touring production of Donizetti’s comic opera The Elixir of Love. Music in the festival also includes Randolph’s Leap and James Yorkston and the theatre programme includes the award-winning writer, actor and mountaineer John Burns. He brings George Mallory back to life in his one-man performance Mallory: Beyond Everest.

In celebration of Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design, the festival will host a programme of architecture, design and innovation-led events, exhibitions, talks and tours, all set in unexpected spaces and scenic locations.

findhornbayfestival.com

CITY OF Glasgow College’s Riverside maritime campus is the only Scottish building among six shortlisted for UK architecture’s highest accolade, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling prize 2016. It is presented to the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year.

The Riverside campus was officially opened in October 2015 by Scotland’s First Minister. The buildings are the result of a collaboration between the combined architects team of Michael Laird Architects and Reiach and Hall, interior designers Graven Images, engineers Arup and Hulley and Kirkwood, and contracting team of Sir Robert McAlpine and FES

The 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist also includes Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall, London, Outhouse in Gloucestershire, Trafalgar Place in Elephant and Castle, London and Weston Library, University of Oxford.

cityofglasgowcollege.ac.uk